Aar Farm: Ediacaran, Namibia

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
unclassified
Aspidella sp. Billings 1872
Runnegar et al. 2024
Runnegar et al. 2024
see common names

Geography
Country:Namibia State/province:Southwestern Namibia
Coordinates: 26.7° South, 16.3° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:
Basis of coordinate:based on nearby landmark
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Ediacaran
Key time interval: Ediacaran Other zone:  Nama
Age range of interval: 635 - 538.8 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Nama Formation:Dabis Member:Kliphoek
Regional section:Member Regional bed:32 m
Regional order:bottom to top
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Stratigraphy comments: The sandstone unit is part of the Kliphoek Member of the Dabis Formation, Kuibis Subgroup, Nama Group (terminal Proterozoic-Cambrian). One meter-thick quartz sandstone, ∼32 m above base of Kliphoek Member,
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:planar lamination,grading lithified sandy sandstone
Secondary lithology:flat-pebble,gray,red or brown lithified muddy mudstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: planar laminated sheet sandstone with graded bedding, and samples three event beds, each having variable (40±50 mm)thickness. Their lower bedding planes are erosional and preserve flat clay pebbles, which are chip-shaped rather than compressed mud balls, recognized by the occurrence of inclined axes. These chips consist of maroon and grey mudstone and may reach 18mm in diameter. Rather than being contained to a sharp bedding plane, they float within the lowermost sandy matrix and are interpreted as a lag deposit of a turbidite-like flow. Kliphoek Member sandstone in general records strong current influence and may be fluvial in origin (Germs 1983; Saylor et al. 1995). Each bed contains a succession of two distinct assemblages of Pteridinium, interpreted as winnowed and virgin (undisturbed).
Environment:open shallow subtidal
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:mold/impression
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:excellent
Abundance in sediment:abundant
Articulated whole bodies:many
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:field collection
Reason for describing collection:paleoecologic analysis
Collection method comments: The original material is deposited in the Geological Survey of Namibia (Windhoek) and catalogued under numbers F576-622. The cast material is deposited in the Institut fur Geologie und Palaontologie (Tubingen) and catalogued under number GPIT1856.
Metadata
Also known as:UCLA 7307. Aar (Amphitheatre)
Database number:89796
Authorizer:M. Laflamme, P. Wagner Enterer:M. Laflamme, P. Wagner
Modifier:P. Wagner Research group:marine invertebrate
Created:2009-06-12 12:42:06 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2009-06-12 12:42:06
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
30072. D. Grazhdankin and A. Seilacher. 2002. Underground Vendobionta from Namibia. Palaeontology 45(1):57-78 [M. Laflamme/M. Laflamme]

Secondary references:

89892 B. Runnegar, J. G. Gehling, S. Jensen and M. R. Saltzman. 2024. Ediacaran paleobiology and biostratigraphy of the Nama Group, Namibia, with emphasis on the erniettomorphs, tubular and trace fossils, and a new sponge, Arimasia germsi n. gen. n. sp. Journal of Paleontology Memoir 98(S94):1-59 [P. Wagner/P. Wagner]